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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23406073">4 A.M. (Nocturnal Haze)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndroidHeaven/pseuds/HarryTwinks'>HarryTwinks (AndroidHeaven)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Men's Football RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, very soft</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:13:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,016</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23406073</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndroidHeaven/pseuds/HarryTwinks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dele Alli needs fresh air so he sneaks out of their hotel in the middle of the night and ends up dragging Son along.</p><p> </p><p>For the prompt: Person A x Person B + Abandoned Playground</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dele Alli/Son Heung-min</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>4 A.M. (Nocturnal Haze)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Okay so this ship is seriously underrated even though we have so many pictures, gifs and videos of them being ship material, like come on ksksksks I rarely see Sonny in these fics and he's so affectionate with everyone so I felt the need to write a fic on them.</p><p>I recommend read this while listening to some chill late night vibes playlist since it's what I listened to as writing this hahah</p><p>I have an entire folder on these two being cute and I'm even going to insert a pic of them below even though the quality is shit but so is life.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s not as if the situation was any different from any other pre-match days. Yet Dele could not shake this awful tense feeling from his body, and he wasn’t sure if it was just about the next important matches anymore. He’s been having a rough season and got lectured a lot by their coach in the previous matches, but he wouldn’t let that bother him so easily; never did. Although Dele knew that he needed a change of action, he also knew that it had nothing to do with his abilities. He didn’t feel undeserving, but he was feeling in a tight spot lately. In fact, he wasn’t even sure anymore if it was all about his career or if he was bringing something personal into all of it and mixing his feelings up. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Dele had been laying on his hotel bed for the past few hours ever since they had dined downstairs, staring at the ceiling and sighing every now and then. He was sharing the room with Son, who was oblivious to his situation, which wasn’t Sonny’s fault considering how Dele was good at hiding his feelings. He kept turning and shuffling in his bed, sighing painfully as his chest ached, wondering what to do even though he didn’t feel like doing anything. As those constant sighs reached his roommate's ears, it didn’t take long for him to start observing what was going on. Eventually, Son noticed Dele’s silence but spared him any questions, which Dele was profoundly grateful for, since he wasn’t sure how he would answer something he didn’t even know the answer to.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>It seemed as if Son wanted to help but knew better than to bombard </span>
  <span>Dele</span>
  <span> with useless questions, still he couldn’t shake the feeling of being useless as a friend. He only decided to keep low with his playful jokes and leave Dele alone, not wanting to anger him instead of helping. They had kept that odd and heavy silence until it was time to sleep. Dele didn’t even bother changing to his sleeping clothes and hadn’t even get out of bed all that time, therefore just stayed there emotionless. Son gave one last worried look at Dele before tucking himself in his bed and wishing his friend a good night’s sleep before turning off the lights to shut his eyes and fall into the nocturnal void.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>It didn’t come as a surprise to Dele when he noticed hours had passed into the night, yet he hadn’t even got a single minute of shut eye. He couldn’t sleep and he surely couldn’t stop overthinking about everything and anything. Dele was aware that eventually he would get over it, this was just one of those blue days that literally everybody has someday, but that knowledge didn’t relieve any of his tension. He sighed audibly and grabbed his phone to check the time, it was 04:23 AM. Dele just wanted a break. He wanted some fresh air to clear his mind and to be at peace, without thousands of people around him. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Dele turned the lights on and quickly got out of bed, the sudden change of light and heavy thuds causing a very sleepy Son to wake up half-minded. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <span>Mhmm</span>
  <span>, Dele?” He asked with an even heavier accent than usual, due to his haze. “What are you doing?”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Son untucked himself from his cocoon, trying to adjust his eyes to the lights as he observed Dele grabbing his coat. As he didn’t receive an answer, he pried further. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Where are you going?”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Dele stopped for a moment only to grab the card key to the room, even leaving his phone behind.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Out.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Son frowned at his friend’s bluntness and at the fact it was probably very late in the night, asking himself where on earth Dele was going at this hour.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Where?”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, you can come along if you want or stay here and don’t tell anyone.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Dele opened the door to their room, lingering a bit to see what was going to be Son’s answer to that. He somehow wished for Son to tag along with him. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>It took only about a minute for Son to get out of bed and sloppily put on his coat and shoes, not even minding that he was still wearing his sleeping grey pants. Although he was barely awake to process what was going on, Sonny was the type of person who would grasp at any opportunity to make his friends feel better. Therefore, if Dele wanted to go somewhere, Son would surely tag along instead of leaving the man all by himself, especially in his current state. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>They made their way out of the room and silently walked down the corridors, taking the elevators down to the main lobby. As expected, it was empty, and they managed to even pass unnoticed by the receptionist, since they weren’t even there as the two footballers left the hotel. As they walked down the empty nocturnal streets, Dele didn’t open his mouth a single time to explain to Sonny where he was headed to or the reason. Son knew better than to pry, like before, and decided to follow him silently into the night, trusting his friend whole-heartedly. The night was beautiful and sad, the cold breeze holding a hint of nostalgia like any other warming their hearts.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>It didn’t take long for Son to notice that Dele wasn’t really headed anywhere. He was basically taking a long walk into nowhere, as they had been wandering around for the past half hour. Sonny realised that all Dele needed was fresh air, regardless if they had a destination or not. It didn’t change the fact that Son was willing to follow him around and keep him company, even if they weren’t really going anywhere. If his company was any comfort, then he shall keep it. Still, Son once again couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was not being enough help, that there was something more he could probably do to make it better, carefully enough not to piss him off by accident. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Although Dele wasn’t paying much attention to Sonny as he cleared his head, it was still comforting that he was there. However, he did find strange how Son was uncharacteristically quiet, giving him maybe too much space. It was </span>
  <span>obvious</span>
  <span> that he wasn’t going anywhere specific and Sonny must have noticed that by now. Dele really hoped that he wasn’t worrying him. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>His thoughts were soon shattered as he heard Sonny exclaiming something in </span>
  <span>Korean</span>
  <span> and then stopping still, causing Dele to stop on his tracks as well and look at the man.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Look! A playground!” Sonny pointed at an empty and probably even abandoned playground further away from the streets they were walking on.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Dele looked at its direction and then back at Son in disbelief. Regardless his confused expression, Sonny kept smiling as he grabbed him by the arm and started to drag him towards the afore mentioned playground. Dele couldn’t help how the corners of his lips went slightly up as he let himself be dragged by Son.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>The playground was a bit away from the streets in general and it didn’t seem as if a lot of kids played on this place for a while, considering how everything was rusty and falling apart. The light pole near it shone dimly, giving a rather eerie yet somehow cosy perspective of the playground. Son only let go of Dele’s arm when they were next to the swings, causing the latter to miss the touch briefly. His attention was soon pulled to Sonny again as he observed the man sit down on the swing, looking at the structure to see if it was sturdy enough to be safe. Son looked at him expectantly, his eyes basically begging for Dele to join him in the swing next to him. Dele scoffed as he rolled his eyes playfully but complied, setting himself to that not-so-trustworthy swing. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Yaay!” Son childishly exclaimed. Nothing new to Dele, but it still made him happy.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s the point of this?” Dele asked even though he didn’t really expect an answer.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Sonny started to swing slowly, testing the grounds to see if it was as safe as he hoped it was. It didn’t seem as if the swing bar would be breaking anytime soon, therefore he kept swinging.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“To have some fun.” Son answered happily. “Come on, Dele!”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Dele shook his head to himself, disbelieving the situation. The fact that it had escalated from Dele sneaking out of the hotel for wanting some fresh air to Sonny convincing him to swing in an abandoned playground at around 4AM was beyond him. Because Son did convince him, as always, and there Dele was slowly swinging and feeling stupid as he did so. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, this is stupid.” Dele said as he stopped, not even sure how he let Son drag him into this in the first place. “I’m leaving.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>He got up from the swing and Son immediately stopped, getting up and pulling Dele back down to his swing and holding him there. Before Dele could ask him what the hell </span>
  <span>was</span>
  <span> he doing, Son got behind him and pushed the swing. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not stupid.” Sonny commented, the smile still not faltering. “It’s fun if you let it.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Dele didn’t really have much of a choice but to let himself be pushed as he held on to the chains. Well, that was a lie. He probably could try stopping the swinging with his feet, but he didn’t. He let himself try to have some fun out this ridiculous situation, relishing how he could probably learn from Sonny’s carefree nature. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>After a couple of minutes of Son pushing him on the swing, occasionally doing it harder just to tease him as he laughed, Dele thought it was enough and stopped the movement as he dragged his feet to the ground, creating a scraping sound against the cement. Dele lingered on his seat, observing how the skies were a beautiful shade of black mixed with grey, the moonlight distantly shining over some of the few stars they could see among the dim city lights. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“There. I’ve done it.” Dele broke the comfortable silence. “Now can we go?”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>That’s when he suddenly felt two arms wrap around him over his shoulders from behind, that familiar feeling of being next to Sonny. It was already popular knowledge of how affectionate Son was, always hugging and smothering his teammates with small gestures of affection. However, Dele could never shake the feeling that Son’s affectionate hugs towards him were always a bit special, different. Or maybe at least that’s what he liked to believe. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“If you really want to.” Sonny answered softly after a bit too long, still hugging Dele.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>As Son removed his arms from the man, giving him enough space to get up and walk away, Dele realised that maybe it wasn’t that bad hanging around in an abandoned playground in the middle of the night, everything looking like a ghost town. He sighed softly but stood up, however instead of walking away, he simply paced around the playground, taking in the cold fresh air that had been his prior objective since the escapade. Sonny hanged by the swing, one of his knees on top of the seat as he held on to the chains, observing Dele in discretion. Dele had stopped next to the broken merry-go-round, leaning against the rusty metal.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>They had fallen into a comfortable silence, taking in the quiet night by themselves, something they usually didn’t have time to do. Nevertheless, Son was still worried and a tad bit curious about Dele’s situation, thus decided to try his luck.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“So...” He started slowly. “Did something happen?”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Son gulped as he </span>
  <span>waited</span>
  <span> for Dele’s reaction, scared that pushing his luck was going to piss him off or ruin the moment.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing happened.” Dele sighed in honesty. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>The Korean waited for him to continue, but it didn’t seem as if Dele was going to elaborate on his answer.  Son simply nodded, not sure what he should say next or if he even should say anything at all. Dele noticed his saddened reaction and decided to hell with it, as he wasn’t sure if he would even </span>
  <span>have the opportunity to</span>
  <span> open with someone else. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing happened really.” He repeated as he fiddled with the rust on the merry go round. “I’ve just been having a bad day, that’s all. Nothing serious.”</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Dele regretted for a second </span>
  <span>opening up</span>
  <span> to him a bit. He wasn’t really the type of person who would talk about his own feelings in these situations, he would always rather listen to his other teammates and try to help in his cheeky way of doing things. Dele had been looking away the moment Sonny started to rush towards him, suddenly hugging him again as if there was no tomorrow. The taller man lightly gasped in surprise, truly not expected to be so fiercely hugged out of nowhere even by Son. Yet there he was standing awkwardly, with Son clinging to him like a Koala to their favourite tree branch. No matter what reaction Dele was showing, it didn’t inflict any difference to Sonny’s actions, as he kept holding onto him, burying his face into </span>
  <span>his shoulder</span>
  <span>. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>As the night breeze became stronger for a moment and the sound filled their ears, Dele couldn’t help but hug Son back. He didn’t really expect to do that, but Dele started to caress Sonny’s back, as if he was the one needing to be comforted. Either way it brought a smile back to the South-Korean's face, so it was a big win for Dele, even though he wouldn’t really tell anyone how much he enjoyed seeing Sonny smile. The warm moment only made Son clutch even tighter to him, relishing how Dele was showing affection back to him, a rare moment that he truly felt privileged for having. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>It’s not as if Dele had planned any of it, and it wasn’t as if he expected for what was to follow. Maybe it was a moment of weakness or maybe it was a moment of realisation, but he didn’t feel like he was sinning when he tilted Son’s head up to look at him before placing a small and soft kiss to his cold lips. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>It felt like an eternity had passed when Dele moved away, his heart thumping fast at the worried thought of what was going to happen next, of how Son would react. He might have just ruined their friendship and probably misinterpreted Sonny’s actions or got too over his own head. Therefore, it truly did feel as if an eternity had passed, as he waited for what would come next, whatever it was. However, there was no reaction. Son looked utterly confused and lost, trying to grasp what had just happened. His eyes were wide but not really looking directly into Dele’s; until they were, as if he was in a haze of disbelief. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Still looking at him in surprise, Son slowly moved his hands up to his face, holding it tenderly as if to test the waters; to see if it was real. And he realised that it was. Dele had truly kissed him and now Sonny was kissing him. It was soft and sweet, more questioning than testing as Dele. When he noticed how the hands on his back pulled him closer, Son’s kiss turned firm and a bit desperate, as if the realisation of a reciprocity filled his mind with joyful desperation. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>When they parted, it didn’t feel bad and they surely didn’t regret any of it. However, everything was still </span>
  <span>uncertain</span>
  <span> and it was a bit awkward. They stood there looking at each other, no one being able to say anything because what could they say? Nevertheless, none of them tried to move away from each other’s grasp. Son’s hands still lingered on the taller man’s face and the latter kept holding his body close to him, not letting him go anywhere unless he wanted, but Sonny didn’t want to go anywhere. That’s when the loud thunders could be faintly heard in the distance, causing the night skies to get brighter.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“I think it’s going to rain.” Son broke the silence as he looked up and behind Dele, where the lightnings could be seen in the distance, away from the tall buildings. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Dele mildly nodded, still in a haze after all the experienced emotions in a single day.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“We should go back.” He managed to say, still not looking Son directly into his eyes even though the latter did.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>It was Son’s turn to nod, glad for what had happened but a bit sad that the moment was over. They both lingered a bit too much in each other’s grasp, unable to move away from the warm comfort. Amazingly, Son was the first to be able to move away, stepping out of Dele’s personal bubble for a second before proceeding to walk right next to him.</span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>They walked back to the hotel in silence, their shoulders brushing against each other more than usual, and the back of their hands occasionally touching each other’s. They had walked so slowly, cherishing each other’s company alone, that the rain had started pouring by the time they managed to reach the hotel all soaking wet. They sneaked back into their shared hotel room laughing at the absurdity of the situation they had put themselves into that night, their bodies cold but hearts warm. Dele let Sonny shower first and then they had both gone to bed, since it was already almost dawn. However, it didn’t take long for Sonny to appear in Dele’s bed, his eyes asking the question in silence. Dele made space for him in his bed, letting a very happy Sonny crawl under his sheets and snuggle into him. </span>
  
</p><p>
  <span>The next day they had woken up by loud bangs on the door and someone calling after them, realising how they had overslept in each other’s arms.</span>
  
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I really hope you enjoyed it &lt;3</p><p>Pardon any grammar mistakes again, English is not my native language. If anyone has requests on these two or Winksy x Dier let me know, I might do them.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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